It is well known that tobacco smoking can cause the deposition of materials on the teeth, tongue, gums, and other surfaces in the oral cavity of smokers. The result of the deposition of these materials is well known by any one who smokes or knows someone who smokes. The most well known of these effects include the discoloration of the teeth and other surfaces within the oral cavity such as the gums and tongue and the causing of bad breath. Stained teeth can be unsightly and bad breath can be unpleasant for the smoker and those he or she comes into contact with. Additionally, as described below, the materials deposited on the interior surface of the mouths of smokers can lead to health problems, such as tooth decay and gum disease. It is also well known that food and oils and other materials contained in the food can be deposited on the surfaces of peoples' mouths.
The major constituent of deposits caused by smoking is commonly known as "tar". Tobacco tar is loosely defined as a dark, oily, viscid blend of polycyclic aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, although tar also contains other compounds. Tar is produced as tobacco in a cigarette, cigar, or pipe burns. The tar is contained within the smoke produced by the burning of the tobacco.
As a smoker smokes a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, he or she inhales the tar along with the other tobacco combustion products as the smoke is sucked into the mouth and eventually into the lungs. The smoke is then blown out of the body as the smoker exhales and the smoke passes through the mouth of the smoker once again. Therefore, the smoke passes through the mouth of the smoker twice, upon inhalation and exhalation, providing ample opportunity for the compounds in the tar to come into contact with the teeth, gums, tongue, and other surfaces in the oral cavity and be deposited thereon. Obviously, the more a person smokes, the more tar will be deposited in the mouth of the smoker.
Dentists and hygienists can immediately detect smokers by the heavy staining of the lingual surface of the mandibular anterior teeth. These stains are observed as being resinous in nature. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control, smokers' teeth are generally twice as stained as non-smokers'. McKendrick, Barbenel, and McHugh, Indiana School of Dentistry (1970).
Due to the hydrophobic nature of the compounds contained within the tar, the tar is not easily dissolved or dispersed by commonly available over the counter mouth treatments such as toothpastes, gels, and oral rinses. As a result, tar can build up on the teeth, dentures, denture plates, artificial teeth and other surfaces of the smoker's mouth causing, among other things, staining of plaque and calculus and an aesthetically displeasing appearance of the smoker's teeth and mouth. Additionally, since the compounds in tar have an unpleasant aroma, their deposition and residence within the mouth of smokers can cause chronic halitosis. The difficulty in removing the tar deposits within the mouth of smokers is increased by there viscid nature. Many compounds contained within food and other substances that come into contact with peoples' mouths have a chemical nature similar to that of tobacco tar and can also be deposited on the surfaces of the mouth, build up there, and cause problems similar to those caused by the tobacco tar.
Therefore, as the tar deposits as well as deposits of other materials, such as oils in food, build up in the mouth of the smokers, not only are the teeth and the rest of the mouth discolored by the tar and the breath of the smokers caused to take on a malodorous nature, the tar can become incorporated into the plaque and calculus which forms on the teeth. Because of its especially tenacious nature, the calculus is only removable by a dentist or dental hygienist with a steel pick. Because the tar can reduce the immune response, bacteria has the opportunity to proliferate. Bacterial can cause tooth decay, gingivitis, bleeding and swelling of the gums, and periodontal disease. Therefore, tobacco tar is a real health problem.
As discussed above, tar is especially difficult to remove once deposited on the surface of the teeth, gums, tongue, and the rest of the oral cavity. Materials in food and other substances coming into contact with peoples' mouths can also be just as difficult to remove. In an attempt to remove tar and other deposits from teeth, products such as toothpastes and gels were developed which claim to remove tobacco tar. Known tar removing products remove the tar by physical abrasion, similar to how sandpaper removes the surface layer of wood, for example. These products usually include an aluminum or silicon based abrading material to physically remove the tar from the surfaces in the mouth. All known anti-tobacco stain products on the market are in toothpaste form. Since these known products do not include ingredients which dissolve and/or disperse tar, but rather, remove tar by physical abrading action, they rub the tar off the surfaces of the mouth as the smoker brushes his or her teeth.
Unfortunately, the abrading materials in these known oral preparations do not differentiate between tar and other materials, such as the actual surface of the teeth. Therefore, in addition to removing tobacco tar, these materials can actually remove enamel from the teeth themselves. Removal of the enamel could cause the teeth to become sensitive, which can cause individuals to avoid brushing their teeth, which may lead to tooth loss. For example, the outer enamel layer can be partially removed by these known products, thereby damaging the teeth and creating scratches on the surface of the teeth.
These scratches can make the teeth more susceptible to decay and endanger the softer interior layers of the teeth. Also, the scratches can act to increase the surface area of the teeth, thereby increasing the number of places where bacteria can attach to the surface of the tooth and potentially cause tooth decay. These abrasive cleaners are also not capable of removing tar from microscopic concavities in the teeth which are too small for the abrasives to enter or from any surface which the abrasive materials can not be rubbed against, such as the interproximal spaces between teeth and some gingival spaces between the teeth and gums.
Therefore, these known abrasive materials which claim to remove tobacco tar from the surfaces of teeth can in fact leave much tar untouched on teeth and oral soft tissue and actually cause damage to the oral cavity. For these reasons, dentists usually do not recommend the use of these types of oral preparations.
As opposed to abrading compositions, it would be desirable to have an oral rinse mouthwash that could remove tar from all surfaces in the mouth of a smoker and not physically harm the tooth surface. It would be advantageous to have a mouthwash that could dissolve and/or disperse the tobacco tar thereby removing it from the mouth without any of the adverse effects described above. However, no known available oral rinse product available on the market today is directed to or is capable of preforming the function of dissolving or dispersing tobacco tar effectively.